Then he mentioned another matter that is clearer in their stubbornness and that they are only with desire. He said, turning to their speech because it is more severe in reprimanding: "And when We took" and He manifested it in the appearance of greatness, depicting their increased audacity. "Your covenant" regarding faith and obedience. "And We raised above you the mount": the great mountain that We made a deterrent for you from being content with remaining in the depths of ignorance and raising you to the peak of knowledge. And We said to you while it was above you: "Take what We have given you" from the fundamentals and branches in this great book "with strength." And when the benefit of hearing is acceptance, and whoever hears but does not accept is like one who did not hear, He said: "And listen," otherwise We will bury you with it. This is where it suffices others in discipline to raise the rod and whip upon him, and he will be motivated to learn, which most noble souls endure severe hardships for due to its honor and for the pride it brings them. When they went astray after this great verse, and despite it being a requirement for steadfastness in faith after taking the covenant that no one of honor would break, their going astray afterward indicated that stubbornness is an inherent trait for them. They were as if they were disobedient when giving the pledge. He said, translating the majority of their conditions throughout their times, which he expressed in the previous verse by saying: "Then you turned away" [Al-Baqarah: 64], indicating anger upon them for turning away from their address after they were silenced by facing them in their reprimanding, where they contradicted what He said to them of the beneficial hearing, informing that they made it harmful. "They said, we have heard" meaning: with our ears, "and we disobeyed" meaning: and we acted against what we heard; and he presented it for its strangeness as if it were the response of a questioner, as if he said: Raising the mount above them is a truly tremendous matter, necessitating the promptness to give the pledge outwardly and inwardly and to remain steadfast upon it. So what did they do? It was said: They hastened to contradict that. "And they were imbued" and he emphasized the matter by attributing the action to them, then to their hearts. This is from the imbibing, which is an effective and permissible penetration, like a drink, which is the water that penetrates the entire body due to its delicacy and its penetration, as said by Al-Harali. And Al-Kashaf said: It is a mixture of color with color; "in their hearts is the calf" meaning: its love, and he omitted it to indicate the intensity of its entrenchment, to the point that the added is the one added to it "by their disbelief." And in it is an indication that whoever turns away from complying with the command deserves to be distanced from the station of intimacy.

Imam Abu al-Hasan al-Harali said in the eighth chapter of the key regarding the aspects of showing acceptance and rejection in the Qur'an: Know that every servant is addressed according to what is within his capacity to comprehend. What is beyond his capacity to comprehend is excluded from him. For every age of the hearts, there is a discourse of acceptance according to his comprehension. Sometimes he may have a refusal towards some of that, and thus rejection occurs according to the initial signs of that refusal. Sometimes the blessing may reach him, and acceptance returns to him in a way less than the purity of the first acceptance. Sometimes the acceptances may be arranged in order, and the clarity and understanding rise according to the rank of the one to whom acceptance is directed. The turning away intensifies according to the initial signs of turning away. Sometimes the clarity of the discourse may overlap with one another. The discourse of acceptance towards the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, is the greatest understanding in the Qur'an,

'Have you not seen how your Lord extended the shadow?' [Al-Furqan: 45],

'And He it is Who made for you the night as a garment' [Al-Furqan: 47]; the difference between the two discourses is according to the difference of the addressed.

'Or do those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We opened them out?' [Al-Anbiya: 30] The discourse turned away from them and excluded from them what is not in their state of seeing it.

'Take what We have given you with strength and hear.' They said, 'We have heard and disobeyed,' and they were imbued in their hearts with the calf because of their disbelief. Say, 'Evil is that which your faith commands you.' He addressed them and commanded them, and when they disobeyed, the face of the discourse turned away from them. Then He addressed them with the discourse of the tongue of the Prophet of mercy towards them, and His turning away from them continued in the prolongation of the discourse,

'O Prophet, when you divorce women' [At-Talaq: 1] The discourse descended in the two ranks to clarify to the higher what He clarifies to the lower,

'That is better for you and purer' [Al-Mujadila: 12]. This chapter is of great benefit in understanding for those who seek clarity in its explanation and the intertwining of its references in the Qur'an. This is concluded.

And the existential evidence for their being imbued with love for the calf is their hastening to worship what resembles it in the absence of harm and benefit and form. In the fourth book of the Torah, in the story of Balak, the king of the Moabites, who sought help from Bil'am ibn Ba'ura, what is its text: And the Children of Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab, and they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate from their sacrifices and prostrated to their gods. And the Children of Israel completed the worship with the high places of the idol, and the anger of Allah intensified against the Children of Israel. This is concluded.

And when He, glorified and exalted is He, made clear their great disbelief and their stubbornness along with their audacity in claiming faith and being special to Paradise, He commanded His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to say to them in a mocking manner, confirming their condemnation by using expressions that are meant for the essence of blame. He said: (p-57) ﴿Say, 'Wretched is what'﴾ meaning: 'Wretched is the thing that ﴿commands you to﴾ disbelief, ﴿your faith﴾ that you have claimed.' And He clarified this mockery by His saying in the form of a hypothesis and doubt: ﴿If you are believers﴾ as you have claimed. From this, it resulted that they are either lying in their claim, or they are the most ignorant of the ignorant, as they acted in a manner that does not reconcile with faith while they do not know.